Even though they lie on the furthest edges of the campus, the residents of Far Quad and East Quad won big this year in the Hall Council Presidents (HPC) Hall of the Year contest. For the 2019-2020 year, Carroll Hall won Hall of the Year, Dunne Hall won Men’s Hall of the Year and Flaherty Hall won Women’s Hall of the Year.
Carroll Hall was built in 1906 before becoming a residence hall in 1967.
The hall puts on a number of events every year including lake cleanup brigades and group workouts where they partner with other dorms, in addition to hosting their signature events: the Lakeside Music Festival and Carroll Christmas. Carroll’s hall president, senior Aidan Cook said these events were more successful than ever.
“This year, the goal we set our eyes on was winning Hall of the Year. We wanted to show campus that our size and location were something to envy, not pity,” Cook said.
Additionally, the dorm hosted guest speakers events alongside their Men’s Group discussion sessions. The dorm displayed impressive participation in GreeNDot training and won the highest Dorm Based Athletic Attendance Contest, both key components to the HPC’s point-scoring in the contest. They also had the most residents participate in the Kelly Cares 5K.
Cook said the long walk to Carroll brings the residents together.
“During this return journey,” he said. “We physically distance ourselves from the stresses of campus and classes and come together again in a home where we know, with no exaggeration, every other resident’s name and interests and story. Because of this, we can readily support each other and band together to achieve goals we collectively share.”
Cook thanked the HPC and other dorm leaders.
“Whether we collaborated with their dorms, sought advice from them in trying to plan new programming or built new friendships with them, these other campus leaders were always there for us to turn to,” he said.
Carroll Hall rector Eric Styles said Cook and vice president, senior Jacob Stellon played a huge role in this year’s award, who collectively came up with the Carroll Kitchen food sales initiative.
“This is my fourth year as rector, which means the current seniors started with me,” Styles said. “That makes them special to me. I know them really well and have asked much from them, and they delivered. We also had a higher number of seniors elect to remain on campus. It helps to keep the community more mature. They are looking toward their future, and the younger residents see that.”
Both Stellon and Cook praised the participation of Carroll residents.
“Our community was especially successful this year for a long list of reasons,” Stellon said. “But it all comes back to the fact that we, all 100 of us, worked hard to make it this way.”
Built in 2016, the Flaherty bears have resided on East Quad for four years.
“In my opinion, Flaherty Hall is so special because of the identity that we have acquired over the past four years,” Flaherty’s president, senior Catherine Dieckman said. “We are no longer being confused with Farley, nor are we considered just a boujeer form of Pangborn. Over the past four years, we have become a dorm that is home to fierce, strong, compassionate women.”
Flaherty works each year with Beacon Children’s Hospital to fundraise for monetary and supply drives in addition to holding a DVD collection. They also have established a textbook exchange program, support the Boys and Girls Club of South Bend and the Center for the Homeless and boasted a percentage increase of GreeNDot participation from 19% to 28%.
According to Dieckman, some of Flaherty’s most beloved traditions include their signature events such as Project Pumpkin Pie, an event in November where Flaherty’s residents bake 80 pies for the South Bend Center for the Homeless.
“This is one of our favorite service events of the year, and we continued this tradition from when the Pangborn community moved into Flaherty,” Dieckman said.
The hall also fosters an internal community through their weekly food services, Bearly Baked on Monday nights and Fronana on Thursday nights. Additionally, the hall hosts a barbecue called BearBQs in the fall and spring.
“Our hall government makes all of the food, and our girls love it,” Dieckman said.
In their presentation to HPC, Dieckman said she and her vice presidents focused on the improvement of their signature events, their work with Beacon Children’s Hospital and the diverse events they held with other dorms. Dieckman also created a one-second-a-day video showcasing the community and work of the residents of Flaherty Hall during her term, which was presented to HPC.
“Even though Flaherty Formal, Honey Week — our spirit week — and Flaherty Females Weekend did not occur this year due to the shortening of the spring semester on campus, our Bears still prioritized making memories in the small ways,” Dieckman said.
The Men’s Hall of the Year, Dunne Hall, was built in 2016, on East Quad alongside Flaherty Hall.
The Sentinels’ signature events include the DunneDance Film Festival — which was held over Zoom this year — and the Dunne Funne Runne. The dorm began a number of new initiatives this year including a parent’s weekend and a mentorship program for its first year residents.
The Sentinel president, senior George Lyman said his favorite tradition is the dorm’s annual Jimmy Dunne feast week.
“We started out the week with the whole dorm having a steak dinner at South Dining Hall on Sunday night,” he said. “For the rest of the week, we had a bowling night, a Spikeball tournament, a chicken McNugget eating contest and an informal formal at Jays Lounge. That week really brought us together as a hall and helped strengthen our community.”
Lyman said the dorm’s presentation focused on improvement.
“We wanted to show how much the hall community had grown in one year,” he said. “We talked about all the events that had been started in Dunne this year, like parents’ weekend, weekly service trips to Saint Adalbert’s and more and then talked about how we built on events already created.”
Lyman said the dorm’s leadership saw over 100 people attend some hall councils, and he thanked Dunne’s rector Fr. Matthew Kuczora.
“This is his last year as our rector, and it is clear to everyone who has lived in Dunne he is truly a special person and deserves some recognition,” he said. “We are going to miss him a lot next year, but the foundations he set up for Dunne will live on.”
Carroll Hall wins Hall of the Year while Flaherty, Dunne take women’s, men’s titles
Residents of Hall of the Year Carroll Hall attended the Kelly Cares 5K in the fall semester 2020.
